Denbigh Gunman Wounds 3

Assailant Hits Teens, Boy Playing Nearby

NEWPORT NEWS — A 3-year-old playing outside was hit in the head by a stray bullet in what neighbors speculated was a drug-related shooting Thursday at a Denbigh public housing complex.

The child, Robert L. Squire, was in critical condition late Thursday and underwent surgery at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

Two teen-agers were also wounded in the attack. Antwain Jones, 18, of the 3600 block of Marshall Avenue, was shot in the shoulder and chest. He was in stable condition in the intensive care unit at Mary Immaculate Hospital.

The third victim, Kenneth Pressley, 17, of 28th Street, was in satisfactory condition at Riverside Regional Medical Center late Thursday. He was shot in the arm, police said.

Police searched after dark for the suspect, who was described as a short black male, possibly in his 20s, wearing a black sweatshirt with a hood over his head and baggy black trousers.

Newport News police spokeswoman Lynn James said detectives had not determined a motive for the shooting. But the 300-unit complex, Aqueduct Apartments, has a history of drug-related violence.

Witnesses said they heard eight to 15 shots around 3:30 p.m. The child's aunt, Shawnte Hayden, 14, was babysitting at the time. Robert had briefly come into the apartment and went back outside to play with his 5-year-old brother, Russell. Moments after Robert left the house, Hayden heard shots and ran outside.

``I picked him up and put him in the hallway,'' Hayden said. ``He was crying. He was looking at me. He kept breathing real hard.''

The 5-year-old said he hid behind bushes during the shooting.

The child's mother, Andrea Wright, 23, had been at a friend's house for about 15 minutes when she got a call about the shooting. She said she seldom lets her kids play outdoors for fear of violence.

``They don't get to go outside very much,'' Wright said. ``You'd think I was mean. This is one of things I didn't want to happen to them, and it did.''

Witnesses said several other children were playing in the area at the time of the shooting and a school bus was unloading nearby.

At least two stray bullets passed through Kathy Johnson's living room, where Johnson, 28, and her two sons, Joshua, 4, and Tevin, 1, were watching television, said Johnson.

``There were gunshots, then a second later, I glanced toward the window and glass was flying and my blinds were moving like a breeze was blowing through the window,'' she recounted.

Two people said they saw the gunman. ``I heard the shots, then got up from the couch and looked out the window,'' said a former resident, who was visiting her sister. ``I saw two men running across the parking lot. Then they dropped. The only one who was not on the ground was the gunman.''

The woman, like many others interviewed, did not want her name used for fear the assailant might retaliate. She said she moved from the complex in July to escape the violence.

Investigators do not believe either of the two wounded teen-agers were carrying guns.

Another resident, who also did not want to be named, said he counted eight to 12 shots: ``It sounded like the dude unloaded the gun. It was continuous. POW-POW-POW.''

He said he carried one of the wounded teens to a second-floor apartment across the parking lot from Johnson's home.

One of the victims left a trail of blood down the sidewalk in front of a neighboring apartment building. Neighbors said they saw a wounded teen holding his arm as he ran away from the assailant.

In 1986 three people were found murdered in an apartment at Aqueduct and two people have been shot to death at the complex this year. Residents blame much of the violence on drug traffic.

Wright said Robert's father, Russell Squire Jr., was shot in the leg at the complex on Christmas Eve last year after confronting drug dealers.

Herman Reese, chief of safety and security for the Newport News Redevelopment and Housing Authority, which manages the low-income housing complex, said the shootings persist despite $250,000 in federal grant money.

The ``Drug Elimination'' grant, which ran out last month, paid for off-duty police officers to patrol, Reese said. Another grant has been awarded, but the housing authority has not yet received the money, he said.

Most of the gunfire happens after dark, according to Reese. ``It's unusual to have gunfire in daylight. I don't know the circumstances about this shooting, but law enforcement officers across the nation have a drug war on their hands. And guns go hand in hand with drugs,'' Reese said.